One day removed from our first gaming conference as a broadcasting company (albeit as spectators, although watch this space!), Game In Scotland 2013 lived up to every and all expectations we previously had. Held in the heart of Scotland's capital city of gaming - Dundee, of course - developers, innovators and prospective talents came together for a day filled with opportunity, excitement and entertainment. The event has had a positive reaction from those who attended the event, and some talks and information in particular stood out to me personally, which I'd like to share with you.
The beginning of the event saw a positively-ominous figure highlighting the growth of game development in Scotland: 87 development teams in Scotland alone, as opposed to 20 teams in September 2012. Seeing such a dramatic increase in the number of development teams in the past six months evidently shows how important this event has - and will - become for those involved in the local, "indie" sector in the very near future as a platform to increase their publicity, much like events such as E3 and Eurogamer for Triple-A companies.
We were introduced to a number of enthusiastic companies, prepared to talk to us about their current projects and products. A personal favourite of mines was a product from Dundee-based developers eeGeo. Their product, named Reece, on paper is not too far-fetched to explain initially: it's a 3D map with aims of "bringing the world to life". I bet about 90% of readers will think, "So, it's Google Maps... in 3D..?". Wrong. I've been lucky enough to watch the development of the software from its early stages, as I was able to take part in some consumer usability testing for a very early build. I enjoyed what they had, but admittedly, I was one of the "90%" that wondered what it did differently from Google Maps. My confusion has been solved after this event. Not only can the software be downloaded for free on the App Store, but they have allowed other developers to use their product for game development, essentially transforming a 3D-GPS into a development toolkit. This was just as surprising to me as the reveal of Watch_Dogs in 2012, and I now can't wait to see how this technology evolves further.
The bulk of the event consisted of presentations and discussions, hosted by the universally-agreed voice of the Scottish Games Network, Brian Baglow. With a mixture of informative delivery and humorous anecdotes, representatives of each team presented current projects, opportunities and experiences with the audience. As much as I loved every presentation, there were three that stood out to me: Ninja Kiwi, Tag Games and Tigerface Games. David Hamilton, the Director of UK Operations at Ninja Kiwi (the company formerly known as Digital Goldfish) told a success story as a start-up that have integrated into an international company, highlighting the minimally-untapped potential of growth and development that we have within the Scottish games industry. Managing Director Paul Farley detailed how Tag Games continue to go from strength-to-strength since they formed in 2006 and have a strong investment in developing new talents (through their Internship Programme) and development cycles. Tigerface Games, presented by Managing Director Kate Ho, presented what I saw as the highlight of my day: focusing on developing games for children in primary school and working directly with the educational community in order to deliver these "edutainment" products. Frankly, I was amazed with the high-calibre of software we were being shown, and it reminded me of why I have actively been part of this broadcasting team: I want to be a part of spreading the word and giving credit where credit's (over)due.
Above all, this was a fantastic outing for the team at Amber Glass Broadcast. It was a great opportunity to get out and meet the local community that we aim to promote, and hopefully next year's event will be just as big a success as this year's.
Hey, who knows? You might even see us on the stage in 12 months time...
Andrew
Managing Director
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